• Standard or Comprehensive

  Start with the terms most tenancies need, or take the longer set that also covers a guarantor, furnishings, a property manager, landlord improvements and signing incentives. You can switch without losing what you have already answered.

• Eleven guided steps

  Property, parties, term, rent, deposit, living there, utilities, notices, disclosures and signing — each one a short screen, with the lease taking shape beside you as you answer.

• Co-landlords and co-tenants

  Up to three landlords and three tenants, each named and addressed in the lease, plus a guarantor who signs for the tenant's obligations if you want one.

• Decide who pays which utilities

  Split electricity, water, gas, internet, garbage and the rest between landlord and tenant, item by item, instead of a single line that settles nothing.

• Rent, deposit and late payment in your own figures

  Every amount and every period is the one you type. Nothing is suggested or pre-filled, because what is permitted depends on the state.

• Honest about the state's requirements

  Available now for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The draft says plainly that the state's own requirements are not in it and are added by a lawyer.

• A lawyer reviews it before it is used

  Your answers are prepared into a draft and reviewed by a qualified lawyer, rather than handed back to you as a finished form.

A residential lease is the written agreement between a landlord and a tenant for a home: which property is being rented, who may live in it, how long the tenancy runs, what the rent is and when it is due, and who looks after what while the tenancy lasts.

Writing it down is what makes the arrangement checkable later. Both sides can see what was agreed about the deposit, the utilities, pets, repairs and how much notice either of them has to give — rather than relying on what each remembers of a conversation.

What a residential tenancy must contain, and what a landlord has to disclose, is set by the law of the state the property is in, and it differs from one state to the next. This builder records what you and your tenant have agreed; the state-specific terms are settled with a lawyer before the lease is signed, and the draft itself says so rather than leaving you to assume it is complete.

Not sure? Talk to an attorney about your situation first.

These are separate documents, for different jobs.

• Commercial lease agreementsSet the terms for renting business premises.View document
• Sublease agreementsRent out all or part of a place you're renting.View document
• Lease amendment agreementsChange the terms of a lease already in place.View document
• Lease termination noticesGive notice to end a lease.View document

• Before a new tenant moves in, so the deposit and the rent date are agreed in writing
• When a fixed term ends and the tenancy carries on month to month
• When a second tenant joins an existing household
• When a property manager takes over the day-to-day running of the property

• Commercial lease agreementsSet the terms for renting business premises.View document
• Roommate agreementsAgree how housemates share rent, bills and space.View document
• Short-term rental agreementSet the terms for letting a property to a guest for a short stay.View document
• Offer to leaseOffer to lease commercial space on stated terms.View document